01
trusted friends
REFRAMING SOCIAL IDENTITY
Renamed Friends, endured global backlash, then brought it back.
DIVE IN →designer, linguist, creator
I blend interaction design, language, and systems to shape how products speak. Now I’m digging into how we interact with AI, and how we measure voice quality.
I redesign the system, then I ask, “How much further can we go?”
More about me →principles
Authenticity inspires trust
Anything can sound human, but people notice when a voice is truly considered.
SPECIFICITY = EMPATHY
From microcopy to outputs, specificity shows how well you know your audience.
LANGUAGE INSTRUCTS THE SYSTEM
I design the model under the words. No clever line can fix a faulty system.
Design with the room
The real constraint might live in a legal doc, safety review, or marketing brief.
selected work
5 CASE STUDIES
02
building content systems for AI
ROBLOX / CONTENT AS INFRASTRUCTURE
Established Roblox's voice, content, and style guides in 1 month. Turned them into an assistant in 3.
Read →
03
moments
ROBLOX / SHORT-FORM CONTENT DISCOVERY
Took a short-form video feed 0→1, getting players to find new games.
Read →
04
qualtrics assist
QUALTRICS / TONE & EVALS FOR CX AI
Redesigned a CX assistant's voice and tone settings. Coming soon.
05
auditing XM for CX
QUALTRICS / CONTENT AUDIT, POST-ACQUISITION
Brought a new product's language up to Qualtrics' standards, leading to a Forrester Wave recognition. Coming soon.
foundations
Systems under the work: standards, libraries, and guides.
Roblox
unified CTAs
A CTA system for easier, familiar, and consistent navigation.
Qualtrics
string library
An integrated library and design system, for all designers.
UserTesting
accessibility style guide
Best practices for accessibility and inclusivity. WCAG 2.1.
bonjour, hi
Something I picked up in Montreal cafés.
Like any 21st century writer, I got my start on Wattpad.
I never thought I’d be a writer for a living—so when my plan to become a computational linguist went awry, I returned to what I knew: words.
But I’m used to pivoting and making sense of ambiguity. I make systems where there are none and toil until they stick. You'll spot personal touches through all my work, and I always strive to raise the bar for users, my team, and myself.
experience
DESIGNING SINCE 2020
2026 – NOW
Indeed
Senior content designer, helping employers hire.
2025 – 2026
Roblox
Founding content designer, built foundational and AI systems.
2022 – 2025
Qualtrics
Content designer for Text iQ, CX, and AI.
Summer 2021
UserTesting
UX writer intern, specialized in accessibility and inclusivity.
2020 – 2021
WEX Inc.
Technical writer, updated WEX's highly technical voice.
Ask me about any of these experiences, or…
…my time as a radio show host
…the screenplay still yet to put to page
…the three months I spent in Montreal and France
what others say
Sarah exemplifies the ideal content designer, blending creativity, technical skill, and commitment to collaboration. Her contributions not only shape the content itself but enhance the overall design process, making her an invaluable asset to any team.
She masterfully conveyed a challenging concept in prototype with limited space for content that left customers with no further burning questions on machine learning like we’ve had in the past.
She's always looking for ways to improve clarity and user experience, thinking about experimentation for things like CTAs and conversational design. She considers what we've used in the past and comes up with alternatives to solve actual problems.
01 / 03
02 / 03
03 / 03
REFRAMING SOCIAL IDENTITY
01 / 03
trusted friends
- SCOPE
- Content design, strategy
- Company
- Roblox
- For
- 151.5M+ creators and players
- WITH
- PM, PMM, legal, safety
Rethinking social relationships while still sounding human.
Friendships are what make Roblox, Roblox. With 73% under 18, users stay for the friends they’ve made and the identities they’ve formed.
However, parents worried bad actors had unfettered access to their kids via the Friends system. To make the platform safer, Roblox explored a social overhaul: Friends become Connections, with Trusted Connections as an age-verified layer for close friends.
understanding the terms
The team thought “Friends” didn't accurately reflect the levels of trust in a network, so this update was meant to be more flexible and safety-conscious. As the first content designer, I evaluated the naming system while advocating for language that matched users’ mental models.
And as a lifelong gamer, I tapped into my personal passion to speak to them—game devs, content creators, players of all ages.
friends
Two people agree to be Friends, like in real life. Standard across social media.
They could
- Send and receive messages, Party invites
- Join each other's private games
- Or remove each other
connections
Would replace Friends, with the same features seen through the lens of connection.
THEY CAN
- Do everything Friends could, under a new name
trusted connections
A person’s inner circle, like Close Friends elsewhere. Both people must be age-checked, 13+.
They unlock
- Unfiltered chat and voice chat in parties
- Live collab on games with Team Create (Roblox Studio)
- Content made by Trusted Connections and game customization
launching alongside
KIDS UNDER 13
Require parental approval to add TCs
TEENS, 13–17
Can add adults via QR code or contacts
Voice & chat
Exclusive to private chat between TCs
SAFETY & MODERATION
All chat moderated for severe violations
This still led to the biggest risk: backlash to Connections.
the trouble with connections
The name was a fit on paper, but content design had no presence nor input during research. The team prepped for launch and only asked for copy changes when I joined, but I pushed back. "Connections" didn’t match established social identity, and Friends + Close Friends were staples on gaming platforms.
The change risked making core interactions feel abstract, institutional, and emotionally distant.
But my feedback didn’t land well with the team. In July 2025, the rename launched as-is.
They don’t manage connections—they make friends.
an unsuccessful launch
Connections + Trusted Connections launched to significant backlash. From dev forums to YouTube, Roblox players asked why Friends was replaced. In attempting to bridge the safety gap, it brought feelings of disconnect, distrust, and disregard.
They feared Roblox was becoming LinkedIn.
Scroll →
growing pains in a mature org
1 → 4
The content design team quadrupled in six months
After launch, our biggest hurdle was changing how the org thought about language.
Content design was new to most partners. Some welcomed us; others stayed skeptical until we’d built up wins across the product. I spent a lot of time explaining my job, like walking through my process, setting standards from scratch, and building reusable frameworks.
the case for everyday language
Across product, legal, and safety, formal language was the safe choice. I made the opposite case, that the words people already use are the ones they understand, trust, and act on. Everyday language is how safety actually lands.
Bringing back Friends was a conversation that ran for months, and every win for the new voice made the case a little easier.
round 2 / trusted friends
The issue was always Connections—too formal, too detached, too unlike Roblox to its audience of millions.
Strategy
just bring back friends
It still aligned with safety initiatives, the new voice and tone, and user mental models.
ORIGINAL
friends
RENAME
connections
trusted connections
trusted connections
SPRING 2026
friends
trusted friends
trusted friends
New naming system
Same as Trusted Connections, with added parental controls
Not a proper noun
MORE CONTROLS FOR PARENTS
Connected parents are their child’s trusted friends, automatically
Trusted friends can be siblings, cousins, and IRL friends, approved by parents first
how it landed
“This isn’t a joke; Roblox actually changed their mind.”
friends were back
The term players used, from the beginning, had returned.
roblox was listening
Many saw the change as their voices finally being heard.
After years of unpopular platform decisions, players saw proof that their voice could change the product.
empathy in practice, not just principle
Product language profoundly shapes emotional perception and trust, especially in social platforms where certain terms carry cultural and behavioral meaning. Safety-driven systems still need to sound human, and users still need to feel heard.
All in all, successful platform language must balance operational goals with how users naturally describe themselves and their relationships.
Up next
building content systems for AI
Read →
CONTENT AS INFRASTRUCTURE
02 / 03
building content systems for AI
- SCOPE
- Content, conversations, model design
- Company
- Roblox
- For
- Anyone in design, product, or eng
- With
- Product, design, design eng
Making content systems the foundation for an assistant.
Builders—Roblox employees, basically—lacked quick, reliable support for writing UX content. Our nascent content design team couldn’t scale to review everything ourselves, and we needed to empower non-content designers to make high-quality, consistent copy on their own.
Meanwhile, the design org was rapidly innovating an AI design system with an internal companion, Design Assist, for Slack and Figma.
We saw an opportunity for content design functionality in Design Assist, and to treat content systems (voice, tone, heuristics) as infrastructure other AI tools could build on. With non-content designers empowered to write copy themselves, we’d be free to focus on strategic work.
a voice without guidelines
The first step was training the assistant on content guidelines, but we didn't have any.
Roblox's voice and tone did exist, for brand. It just didn't translate into how the product should actually speak. And since we didn't have years of content design docs to draw from, we adapted the brand voice and tone.
We prioritized the surfaces Builders wrote for most (buttons, errors, upsells) and foundations (voice, empathy, style). I owned the foundational guidelines.
the guidelines
HOUSED IN CONFLUENCE
01
Product voice & tone
CONFIDENT, INVITING, AUTHENTIC, OPTIMISTIC
02
Writing with empathy
03
Style & punctuation
04
CTAs
05
Error messages
06
Notifications & tooltips
07
Upsells & monetization
08
Accessibility & inclusivity
09
Design heuristic evaluation
Every other page, and later the assistant, measured copy against the product voice.
written for two readers
Guidelines were written with a principle, an instruction, a do-and-don’t pair, and why it works. Brief for eyes to skim, consistent for a model to find and apply.
A CTA, an upsell, or an error message could all be checked against the same voice and tone: confident, inviting, authentic, optimistic.
anatomy of a guideline
A real entry from CTAs.
Principle
Lead with a verb
Instruction
CTAs are action-oriented, so lead with a verb that reflects what the user is doing.
Do
PublishView detailsAsk
Don’t
DoneLearn moreRequest
Why it works
Verb-first actions move the user forward and align the button with user intent.
CONTENT ASSIST, DESIGNED BY ME
the first prototype
A mockup of how it'd talk to you on Slack, built to test tone and conversational flow.
AI-portrait Mona Lisa wasn't shipped.
Having a base to work from, we moved to Design Assist, a RAG-powered agent connected to our Confluence hub and shipping as a Figma plugin and Slack app. Slack couldn't support the prototype's back-to-back messages, so we simplified. Conversations start when you open the app, and quick actions follow each response to keep the exchange going.
IN FIGMA
The agent scans text layers for standard violations, offering inline suggestions and linking to relevant guidelines or past discussions.
IN SLACK
Builders submit content for review and get suggestions based on our standards. Content designers refine suggestions for the agent to learn from via self-tagging docs.
designing for trust
Each behavior from this agent traced back to a line in its system prompt:
The assistant should be
SO THE PROMPT SAYS
Collaborative, not prescriptive
Never overwrite unless asked. Respect the original intent.
Helpful, not performative
Always explain your suggestions. Be friendly, constructive…
Transparent about its limits
If you’re unsure, flag the issue and suggest the user consult a content designer.
Consistent with our standards
You follow Roblox’s content standards for voice, tone, grammar, clarity, and accessibility.
in practice
Voice and tone check
User asks whether copy fits the audience.
User
“Is this the right tone for a 13+ audience?”
You’ve almost got it! Just a few more steps.
Assistant
“This is friendly, encouraging, and optimistic, which works well for 13+ users. You could say Almost there, just a few more steps. to be more concise.”
When a guideline applies
A real question from a designer, used to train the agent.
Suggestions point back to their derived page.
Suggestions point back to their derived page.
User
“Should Avatar be capitalized everywhere? I’m seeing a button that says Switch Avatar.”
Assistant
“Use sentence case: Switch avatar. Avatar isn’t a proper noun, so only capitalize it at the start of a sentence or label.”
Style & punctuation
when it broke its own rules
Early outputs didn't sound like us. The assistant recommended title case for headers and CTAs, the exact pattern our style guide ruled out, and peppered its guidance with exclamation points. Revising the system prompt, I got more specific to show what our voice sounded like.
system_prompt.md
added rules
More foundational behavior for the agent.
Specific rules to follow:
- Use sentence case (not applicable for proper nouns).
e.g. Do: Today’s picks / Don’t: Today’s Picks
- Use a verb-first format for button text.
- Accessibility (EAA/WCAG):
- Link/Button text: Must be descriptive and standalone.
e.g., Do: Download PDF guide / Don’t: “Click here”
- Image context: If the content refers to an image, provide a descriptive alternative text.
- Structure: Use a logical hierarchy and avoid using only color to convey information.
zero to shipped in record time
1 month
to write the guidelines
3 months
to ship Design Assist (beta) in Figma + Slack
01 / 02
02 / 02
fewer review requests
Builders got answers in Slack and Figma first, freeing content designers for strategic work.
no more waiting on a reviewer
Suggestions arrived in the thread or inline on the layer, each tied to a guideline in the library.
built to outlast us
After I left, the next content design manager built a Claude skill on the same guidelines.
guidelines built for the assistant
Starting from zero meant designing for the assistant from day one. Now I start every content system the same way: if a model can't apply it, it's not done.
Up next
moments
Read →
SHORT-FORM CONTENT DISCOVERY
03 / 03
moments
- SCOPE
- Content design, strategy
- Company
- Roblox
- For
- Creators and players, aged 16+
- With
- Design, DPM, PM, research, eng
Bringing short-form content discovery back to Roblox.
Players always captured their gameplay, but they left Roblox to share it. On YouTube, viewers clocked 1.5 billion minutes of Roblox content a day, and #roblox was one of TikTok’s fastest-growing hashtags. On Roblox itself, beyond playing and customizing avatars, players had little outlet to create.
Developers felt it too. Promoting a game through authentic, player-made content was difficult, and discovery felt stagnant. They needed better paths to reach new players.
Moments fix that: clips up to 30 seconds, swipeable feed. One tap takes you from watching to playing.
I led end-to-end content design for creation, safety, and consumption.
a few challenges
No hierarchy
Moments, captures, and posts were used interchangeably, with no semantic hierarchy tying them together.
AGE-GATED EXPERIENCE
Only older teens and adults could use Moments, so clarity and safety came first.
Safety logic
Restrictions had to show up in UX copy without overwhelming anyone.
success measured by
GROWING
Content-driven game joins: new and returning players discovering games via videos
More frequent sessions, with short “downtime” visits alongside longer play
More time spent on Roblox
GUARDING
Watching shouldn’t cannibalize playing
Less violative content created and seen
landing on moments
Internally, the project was called Rodeo (Roblox Video). The team oscillated on what to call them—Clips, Highlights, Rodeos? As content design lead, with no naming system or semantic hierarchy to lean on, I had to create one.
"Moments" came naturally; gameplay videos were the engaging moments players shared with friends. Distinctive and memorable for a mass audience.
semantic hierarchy
ONE TERM PER LEVEL
Level
Term
What it means
In the UI
Feature
Moments
The feed where players watch, discover, and join games. A proper noun.
Moments tab · Open Moments
Content
Moment
One published video in the feed. Still a proper noun in running copy.
Create your first Moment
Raw material
capture
An unedited recording saved to one's gallery. Private until posted.
Captures gallery · Capture saved
ACTIONS
Capture
Record up to 30 sec of gameplay
Edit
Trim the capture and add audio
Post
Publish to the feed
Join
Enter the game a Moment's from
Retired: Rodeo, Clip, Highlight, and publish
tailoring tone for a global audience
Identity is central to Roblox, and this feature was a new way for players to express it. The tone had to feel like theirs and invite them to create.
Four moments across the flow
guardrails for safety
For minors, Moments should be safe to use and hard to abuse. Moderation and reporting flows needed to be extremely clear and inform sans alarm or blame.
WHERE SAFETY SHOWED UP
Age settings
Prohibiting access to Moments from games with a Restricted rating.
Review
Setting expectations while a posted Moment is reviewed, and if it’s rejected.
Moderation
Explaining why a Moment with inappropriate content was removed.
Reporting
Making it easy to flag a Moment in the feed, anytime.
HOW IT SHOWED UP
the defining moment
31%
of players clicking Join and discovering games
A Moment became the shortest path from “that looks fun” to playing it.
Reach
16 languages
Launched worldwide for users aged 16+, with copy written to translate cleanly.
Surface area
end to end
Creation, consumption, and moderation: the Moments tab, capture to post, empty states, removals, and notifications.
Naming system
1 hierarchy
One set of terms shared across product, marketing, and localization.
a new mental model
In a brand-new product, the name is the onboarding. Moments had to introduce new behavior, carry a safety posture, and feel like it belonged to players across the world. Getting the word right first made it easier to write every flow.